Knights Spurn Springfield Tech 7-1!

10/04/12

The CCRI Knights men’s soccer team traveled to Springfield, MA for a Region XXI non-league game against the Rams of Springfield Technical Community College. The Knights defeated the Rams 7-1. With the victory the Knights improve to 5-5 overall and 5-1 in Region XXI play.

The Knights were coming off a big league win against Dean College on Tuesday and came out firing against Springfield Tech. Freddie Korsah (Accra, Ghana) opened up the scoring assisted by Servi Barrientos (Providence, RI) making the score 1-0 Knights. they both reversed roles for the next two goals as Barrientos scored twice, the first assisted by Korsah and the second from Luis Navas (Pawtucket, RI) making the score 3-0 Knights. CCRI’s strategy was to pass the ball around well and keep the Springfield defense off balance. The fourth goal came from a laser shot from inside the 18 yard box from Christopher Lopes (Pawtucket, RI). Navas set-up the ball on the platter and Lopes was able to strike it well. Before the halftime whistle sounded Prince Tahyor (Providence, RI) received a nice chip pass from Orlando Worthington (Cranston, RI) who tucked the ball away into the net givi9ng the Knights a 5-0 cushion at halftime.

At half time Head Coach Gabe Toro encouraged the players to work on their passing game and improve on the little things. The big lead also gave the coaching staff the ability to rest some players that have been dealing with injuries. The Knights play three games this week, so some players needed the rest. In the second half the Knights bench came out and continued to play well, having good possession and knocking the ball around the entire pitch. Knights’ Keeper Rob Gallucci (Coventry, RI) was able to display some of his foot skills in goal because everyone on the team was involved in dominating possession. During the ninth minute of the second half Prince Tahyor intercepted a goal kick that failed to make it over the top of the offensive line and converted giving the Knights’ their sixth goal. 20 minutes into the half, Joshua Lopes (Pawtucket, RI) was tackled to the ground about 40 yards out. The Knights were awarded a free kick which defender Kyle Ferreira (Westerly, RI) fired into the top corner of the Springfield Tech net for last goal of the game for the Knights, making the final score 7-1.

Coach Toro commented: “We were able to utilize all of the players available today. I was impressed with their hard work and overall improvement since the start of the season. A few players that stepped-up today included: Lionel Salinas (Central Falls, RI), James Meehan (Pawtucket, RI) and Joshua Lopes who all performed well in helping the Knights come out with this impressive victory.”

The Knights will host the No. 20 ranked (NJCAA DI poll) Mustangs of Monroe College from New Rochelle, NY to the CCRI soccer complex in Lincoln this Saturday, October 6th for a 3:00pm game. The Community College of Rhode Island, New England’s largest comprehensive community college, enrolls nearly 18,000 students in credit courses and thousands more in non-credit and job training classes. Its athletic program boasts 12 varsity programs and an academic support program for all student-athletes.